ARCHVE - SPRING 2012 UPDATE

Spring - eUpdate 2012

Our theme this term has been “Spirituality” which we have been exploring through different ways in all of
our activities. The first half of the term has focussed primarily on our Dasta-based Spirituality workshop
culminating in our Baal Sabha last weekend. In addition, we held our Kendra Shradhanjali the week before
half term to remind all of our baalako about those bhaio that developed Shishukunj and allow us to be there
every Sunday!

The remainder of the term will be focussed on Gooch sessions where baalako will delve deeper into the
Spirituality theme in there own age groups. Our portfolios teams have been working on their plans over the
half term break and have some really interesting ideas to explore with the baalako!

For the majority of the last half term, Finchley Kendra has been focusing most of its efforts on the Dasta
ECA in preparation for our spirituality Baal Sabha that was on February 26th. What started off as a small
project, with the whole portfolio team unsure of what we should do, has manifested itself into a huge ECA
and I don’t think anyone imagined that all the baalako would produce the work that they have. The Baal
Sabha consisted of five acts, each organised and performed by two dastas. Through performance, we were
encouraging all the baalako to work together, be it by singing in harmony or by dancing in sync. The
teamwork shown by all of the groups has been phenomenal and

through this ECA, we have allowed baalako of different ages to get to
know each other. Whereas our activities last term were more centred
around gooches (age groups), this ECA has given the whole Kendra
time to bond and to mix amongst the ages. The main objective of this
ECA has been to encourage all the baalako to be confident in all the
activities they choose to do. Getting up on stage in front of the whole
Kendra and even parents requires a lot of confidence and in their
groups the baalako can support each other to perform to the best of
their abilities.

Spirituality is a very abstract object and something that is very subjective. The meaning of spirituality for
one person can differ dramatically with the meaning of spirituality for someone else. For the team, it was
very hard to come up with a way to express Spirituality to the baalako given we were struggling ourselves
to come up with what it means to us! Therefore, we felt that the aim

of the ECA should be to show that people choose to be spiritual in
different ways and the acts are all examples of possible activities
during which people feel spiritual. Spirituality can incorporate your
mind, your body, how you feel and what you do and so we have
created all the acts to link to these various aspects in some way.

Instead of asking the portfolio group to organise these acts, we
thought it would be fair to give the Dasta Nayaks and Nayabs some
more responsibility and so we asked them to organise the acts,

handle the practises and bring together all the baalako in their dastas to produce an
item for the Baal Sabha. The commitment from all the Dasta Nayaks and Nayabs
has been amazing and the work they have put into this ECA has been absolutely
fantastic and far beyond the team’s initial expectations. This is the first project that
they have ever organised and handled and it is their leadership and hard work that
has allowed the all acts to develop into brilliant performances.

Luckily, many of our parents joined us for the final Baal Sabha where all of the
dastas performed their individual acts to the rest of the Kendra. This was an
absolutely fantastic event with all the parents and the baalako having a fantastic
time. As always it was great to have so many parents in on that day to remind us all
of one of the core visions at Kendra: “Family and Oneness”.

Sahilbhai’s personal thoughts: This has been the first chance for me to organise a whole Kendra activity
and at the same time, the first chance that I have had to work with any of the Dasta Nayaks or Nayabs. It
has been challenging and a lot of hard work, especially when brainstorming ideas for all the acts, but fun at
the same time. The main thing that I have learnt is that communication is really important between
everyone and that everyone involved in an activity needs to be proactive to produce the best that they can.
I was so proud of the Baal Sabha on the 26th February and I am so glad that all the hard work that
everyone put in produced such a fantastic Baal Sabha.

SHRADHANJALI - JINISHABEN

Shradhanjali is a time to promote remembrance amongst the baalako and the
importance of it. We therefore come together on 2nd February to remember the
people that have touched our lives within Shishukunj. It is time to focus on what we
do at Shishukunj as well as a time to remember our inspirations: Devchandbhai
and Vallabhbhai and Indubhai Davey. These three bhaio have left behind a legacy
that has inspired generations and has helped shape Shishukunj into what it is
today. In addition to our annual event at the bhavan we also held a shorter session
on Kendra where we reminded all the baalako of the attributes these bhaio taught
us and how they continued to work throughout their whole lives to further the
Shishukunj cause.